BOSE Speaker Debate

A

AVtechguy

New member
I have had this debate with many Audio Technicians and it always seems to be 60/40 split on who likes Bose Speakers (60% against and 40% for). I am not talking home Theatre speakers. I am talking the pro line.

I have been an Audiovisual technician for 20 plus years and have used Bose from Day 1. They have always done the job and sounded great. Yet there seems to be a hate on among professionals. Opinions?
 
Their reputation is that they grossly overstate what a particular product is good for. I think that holds true for their "direct/reflecting" home speakers, all the waveguide stuff and the L1 type "pro" speakers. The noise cancelling headphones seem to mostly live up to the hype, but Bose seems to want you to think that they invented them. Bose's claims regarding the L1 speaker systems seem quite unbelievable to me and it's probably the product responsible for their bad rep among pros, but in applications demanding less volume I can see them being useful. Some of their other more conventional PA stuff seems okay, though the amps I've seen were just rebranded QSC. I wouldn't be surprised if some of their A/V install stuff fell into that okay category.

"Better sound through advertising" is one of the common jokes with a grain (or maybe bucketload) of truth to it.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Their reputation is that they grossly overstate what a particular product is good for. I think that holds true for their "direct/reflecting" home speakers, all the waveguide stuff and the L1 type "pro" speakers. The noise cancelling headphones seem to mostly live up to the hype, but Bose seems to want you to think that they invented them. Bose's claims regarding the L1 speaker systems seem quite unbelievable to me and it's probably the product responsible for their bad rep among pros, but in applications demanding less volume I can see them being useful. Some of their other more conventional PA stuff seems okay, though the amps I've seen were just rebranded QSC. I wouldn't be surprised if some of their A/V install stuff fell into that okay category.

"Better sound through advertising" is one of the common jokes with a grain (or maybe bucketload) of truth to it.
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I do use them in smaller venues that is very true, but have always done the job quite well. Anything on a larger scale we always fall back on our JBL's. I can see how the late night infomercials can give them a bad name. The home Theatre stuff is way over priced. The main reason I asked this question is that Today we were demoed the new 2015 Bose F1 Flexible Array Loudspeaker System. 1000 watt Speaker system with a separate sub that also has a built in 1000 watt amp. It really sounded good. More kick than anything else they have put out in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keUtck_F7es
 
IMO, Bose built their reputation off of the 901's. They were great speakers. No, they were freaking great speakers. But, today, I think what Bose makes are good speakers, but they are not 901's. Not even near that and the people who are making them today are marketing people and not the lovers of sound that made the name.

Good speakers, yes. Worth the money they ask for, no.
 
AVtechguy said:
The main reason I asked this question is that Today we were demoed the new 2015 Bose F1 Flexible Array Loudspeaker System. 1000 watt Speaker system with a separate sub that also has a built in 1000 watt amp. It really sounded good. More kick than anything else they have put out in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keUtck_F7es
Click to expand...

To be quite honest that looks like classic Bose gimmickry. That's not to say it doesn't work, just that a lot of what it does can also be done with more conventional speakers. Sometimes I think that Amar Bose must have scored a few shipping containers full of little drivers for next to nothing so he designed speaker systems just to get rid of them, and then he died before they ran out.


You should check out Nimrod Webber's Balanced Tilter.
 
This is an easy one. Some people don't like Bose speakers because they sound different to other brands, and you either like the sound, or not - like Marmite! A pile of 802s and 302 subs of ancient vintage in good nick sound quite nice to me years, but I've stood next to others who said they hated them. The problem is they are just different. Many people also work without the controller, which is even worse. They also are volume limited. Push the levels and they start to object, push further and a driver waves bye bye, and then of course the idiots push further to recover the volume!

I'd be quite happy using a Bose system, but I don't do heavy stuff or mega loud.

I don't use any of their domestic kit, so have no idea what that is like.
 
I think the 802s were (are) just about the ultimate speaker for small acoustic gigs. The most natural sounding speaker I've ever heard.
 
802's were a favourite for folk groups, which just about counts them out for anything else LOL.

I have had to use them (in house or hired in by others) many times over the years and did not like them at all. No clear highs, no good lows even with the matching subs, and no guts in the sound. You could not get them to rock at all. The only good thing about them was that they did not blow up, mainly because of what I said above :facepalm:

Alan.
 
I think the reason professionals question Bose is that Bose doesn't publish specs for a lot of their stuff. We like to know exactly what we're buying.
I used 4 of their 802 cabinets for vocals only in a band and they sounded great. Each cab got 200 watts and I used their processor.
I recently used their array with their bass cab for a duo playing tracks with a live guitar. It did seem like this system was struggling a bit for what I needed, however the portability factor was kind of nice.
I use a pair of their earbuds for my phone and they sound decent but not great. But that alone makes them another point of reference for listening to mixes.
Bottom line- it's generally decent stuff, if not a little overpriced.
 
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I completely agree with you. I have been using bose for years now. I never got better sound quality from any other brand. True That you have to pay a little extra . My latest addition is the this mini speaker from Bay Bloor Radio https://baybloorradio.com/soundlink-mini-2 It gives big sound with deep bass from our palm. It is pretty awesome.
 
james444 said:
I completely agree with you. I have been using bose for years now. I never got better sound quality from any other brand. True That you have to pay a little extra . My latest addition is the this mini speaker from Bay Bloor Radio https://baybloorradio.com/soundlink-mini-2 It gives big sound with deep bass from our palm. It is pretty awesome.
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If you read from the start of the post, we are talking about Pro PA gear not little home stereo gear. I don't mind the home stereo stuff.

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
If you read from the start of the post, we are talking about Pro PA gear not little home stereo gear. I don't mind the home stereo stuff.

Alan.
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And to me it's ultimately about the gap between the hype and the reality.

I have a friend with a pair of mint 901s, including the correct eq box, and has them placed correctly. They sound quite nice from anywhere in the room. They live up to the realistic claims made by Bose.

I got to hear another friend performing in a coffeehouse with an L1 system. It was tolerable but lacking in clarity, sounding like it dropped off steeply above 3k. I don't know how loud it gets but I've seen illustrations with one or two on a large theater stage with a full band. I seriously doubt they would be adequate for that unless it's just for monitors, and even then the drummer's going to need more. In the right situation it's not a bad product, but so far my experience matches what I've heard from sound pros, that it doesn't live up to the hype.
 
The L1 system covers about the same area as a Meyer UPJ. The Meyer will sound better, but the L1 has a sub...
 
Which L1? There are 3 models - compact, with B1 bass module and with B2 module.

The compact will work tolerably well for a solo singer/guitarist. Anything else, move up to the B1, at least.

2 years ago I played at an outdoor (parking lot) set up that had two L1/B1s set up to spread the sound out. It sounded remarkably good and loud enough for the area.

The best sound I have heard from L1s has always been with an external mixer, rather than trying to futz around with the limited onboard controls or the little Tonematch thingie.
 
The one I heard recently had one of the bass modules. As I said, I don't know how loud it could get because it was in a coffeehouse. It did seem to lack HF. It was being driven by an Onyx 1640 but I have no idea what the eq settings were.
 
I have a small PA system with an Alto brick type powered mixer and 2 x Quest 12" & horn boxes that we use at small gigs, bought the lot for $300 off ebay, and I reckon I get a better sound out of that then most of the Bose 901, L1's etc etc that I have heard over the years.

Alan.
 
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